NYC Mayor Wants Big Oil Dead

New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio threatened Big Oil with more lawsuits on the Bernie Sanders Show podcast, comparing the industry to the tobacco giants, saying they “systematically poisoned the Earth, knew about it, covered it up, explained it away, tried to hook people more and more on their product.”

De Blasio urged local authorities in cities and municipalities to use their “litigation powers” to make Big Oil pay billions for the damages that the industry has done to the planet and “get the resources back.”

De Blasio’s threats come on the heels of a lawsuit the city of New York launched earlier this month against five Big Oil companies, including Exxon, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, and Shell. At the time, Mayor de Blasio said the suit was an effort to recover funds the city has used to defend against the effects of climate change in recent years. What’s more, the city’s five pension funds will pull out from the fossil fuel industry as part of NYC’s shunning of oil, coal, and gas.

The state of New York has also increased barriers to entry for fossil fuel companies. Since former governor David Paterson introduced a moratorium on fracking in New York back in 2010, the state has become a poster child for the drive towards renewable energy. Peterson’s successor, Andrew Cuomo, banned fracking indefinitely in 2014. In 2016, he blocked the construction of the Constitution pipeline that would have transported natural gas from Pennsylvania to upstate New York and New England.

Yet, strong as those words are, it is difficult to take them at face value. Last September, NYC statistics revealed that the city’s municipal workforce had logged 102 million miles on the road in the latest full fiscal year, which, the New York Times pointed out, was 25 percent more than in 2014, when Bill de Blasio took office.

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Tobacco? Really? OK, so when was the last time your motorcade raced across Manhattan on a tank of cigarette butts? Embarrassing...

Shuggs Howard on January 26 2018 said:

What do you expect when you have a Communist Mayor and a Socialist Governor?

Scott on January 26 2018 said:

I would like to see the expense details of just what tax payer funds were spent combating global warming in NYC besides the city staff assigned to this issue. I assume it will go back to the advent of gas lights which with compound interest over the past 100+ years should bankrupt all the energy companies......you go Bill and win a big one for Karl so you can then afford to support and fund a "duty to die" purge as we all know you think the real problem is that there are just too many people in this world exhaling CO2.

Mike on January 26 2018 said:

The Mayor condones and authorizes public funds to purchase hydrocarbon fuels and allows usage in his jurisdiction!!!! Thus criminal should be prosecuted.......

Me on January 26 2018 said:

What a POS mayor ... I'm sure he knows what BS he's spouting, but nonetheless pursues this "law suit lottery ticket" in the hope of an unjust judgment (which sadly, is always possible, not matter how lacking in merit the claim actually is).

Our court system needs to be reformed to make the people who file such suits subject to the same risks they seek to place on their opponents. Until such is done, there will be no shortage of litigants (and contingency lawyers) willing to pursue such nonsense, ultimately at all of our expense.

Citizen Oil on January 26 2018 said:

Simple solution. Cut off all Nat Gas supply to NYC in the winter and close all the gas stations . My goodness that would be spectacular. Then propose the only way the taps would be turned back on is if De Blasio is fired and all lawsuits dropped. What a Homer Simpson society we've become.